My last 12 months with insurance brokers

Having now worked for a year on building software for commercial insurance brokers, I’ve seen first hand how the sausage gets made. I thought it might be useful, primarily for those working in the game, to see what outsiders (we come from the fintech and SME credit worlds) think about how the insurance broking industry actually works.

The Good

• The level of professionalism of your average insurance broker is really very high. They have surprised me time and again with their dedication to ensuring clients get a good outcome and really do think of themselves as their customer’s guardian and representative in the hard-to-navigate world of insurance.

  
  

• Consolidation among insurance brokers is clearly working out well for the vast majority. Brokerages that were previously unable to put their heads up and look at their actual processes and strategy (because they were too busy fighting fires) now have the capacity as part of a larger organisation.

The Bad

• Most brokers don’t have a strong view of who they sell to or want to sell to. Sometimes their view of the ideal customer is as simple as “whoever next gets sent to us”.

  
  

• Many brokers still rely on entirely manual workflows to an extent that would be comical in other professional services industries. Re-entering the same data over and over, shuffling static PDFs between people on email, or using systems that don’t sync up. It’s honestly quite frustrating to watch.

  
  

• The focus on relationship-first, manual underwriting is a way to entrench poor underwriting processes and extremely high operating costs – smart carriers are moving aggressively away from this model into data-driven underwriting, but it’s far too slow.

  
  

• The demographic problem. Talent is a crazily large issue for every broker that we’ve spoken to, and it’s clear that it’s only going to intensify over the next few years, as the existing workforce ages out. Having terrible software makes this way worse, as the burden of admin is such a meaningful barrier to career progression.

The Plan

So, what would I suggest as a better way to do things? We’ve somewhat annoyingly buzz wordily started to call this connected insurance (if you can think of a better term to call this, please do let me know!). Connected insurance is about streamlining the flow of data between all the parties, so brokers, insurers, and clients can work together more smoothly. In just the last year, I’ve seen how even small changes towards this approach can make a massive difference.

In the simplest possible terms, the software "revolution" in professional services over the last ten or so years has been about getting rid of disconnected, manual processes and replacing them with systems that talk to each other in real-time, across all the parties who need to see that data. It isn't really a revolution however, it's a focus on the vital client-oriented work and automating the pointless admin.

For people making insurance sausages, that means:

Enter data once: We’ve worked with quite a few brokers who have to start entirely from scratch with a blank piece of paper/data record every time they need a quote or renewal. With connected insurance, you enter client details once, and it flows through the entire process.

Enriched client profiles: Imagine pulling data from sources like credit scores or Companies House directly into the system. One broker we’ve been working with now starts every new client engagement with pulling up the data from an industry-specific data provider, which starts their build of a much much richer client record. Instead of relying on gut feelings and broker experience alone, they use this data to triage clients to a particular type of service in a fraction of the time. Their clients frankly absolutely rave about that experience - “How did you already know that about me?”.

Automation for routine tasks: One team we’ve supported have gone from manually updating every policy document on a complicated scheme from a Word template, which took them 45 minutes on average, to being able to write cover, automatically generate documents and provide them to each customer with no manual data inputs.

Real-time collaboration: Brokers and underwriters should be able to get on the phone and know that they’re looking at exactly the same information in front of both of them, with draft quotes and cover already suggested, so they can get to the complicated issues within a case instantly. Quoting via API makes this the standard experience.

Client transparency: Clients should be able to kept up to date with all that their broker is doing on their behalf automatically – intelligent client portals can keep the end client informed throughout the process, providing real-time updates and clarity at every stage.

A real example of transformation

One brokerage we’ve worked with was definitely running traditional processes - they manually prepared every quote, often spending hours copying down details from clients over the phone and then emailing underwriters. On Recorder’s platform, they’ve automated the full end-to-end quoting process on some product lines, integrated a ton of third-party data for richer client insights, and automatically generate every quote presentation. One of their brokers said it was like replacing a tricycle with a fighter plane (which I obviously loved). Month-on-month GWP growth has been almost double their historical average.

What’s next

Connected insurance is definitely a buzzword, but it really just means a smarter, faster way to work. It helps brokers focus on their clients, not their admin tasks. I’ve started to see how it transforms brokerages, letting them grow without adding to their team’s stress. It’s the future of insurance, and it’s extremely exciting to be part of building it.

If you’re interested in joining us, or have any thoughts on any of the above, please do get in touch at alex@recorder.tech